Admin

Watch this space and our site sponsor...soon ;)

A pond that you would not like to swim in "Werr it be" ;)

I get the feeling that it may get a bit crowded at times, as there are so many of us now.

Actually a question for the Sparkies out there:

If I have a generator that is rated at 2000w continuous and 2,300w peak and I run an 1,800w Urn on low - can I also charge a laptop or mobile phone (how many phones)???

This will help for me to know to what extent we can use the generator for everyone - thanks!

Capt - there isn't any powered sites at Natfly other then the RAA tent all though there are power points in the forums rooms.

However, I will have my generator there that can be used by any forum member - it is only 2,400w but I can't guarantee that it will be available exactly the moment that you need it as my laptop has to take first choice :big_grin: - other then that you are welcome to use it

10 dozen hot cross buns ordered and arrive on Sat morning for breakfast - Forum Members ONLY!

Also there will be the normal coffee/tea and biscuits at the Recreational Flying tent all the time and available to Forum Members to sit back and have a cuppa

We have a double site - I was expecting to have an aircraft there but that was not to be - but we will have two tents (1 for the shop and 1 for forum members), tables and chairs, umbrellas to sit under - all available to forum members.

Make sure you drop in and say hi, sit back and enjoy - Recreational Flying, always dedicated to helping recreational pilots

Oh and don't forget to bring your wallet and credit cards for the Clear Prop Shop for the best bargains you will ever get ;)

There are no nuts in donuts

Allen's Live Savers don't save lives

Allen's Steam Rollers don't roll steam

etc

Actually, did you how they get the shiny coating on Allen's five flavours roll of lollies - they use detergent - true!

I was going to stay for the Sunday but it was simply the heat. With Sunday being close to 40 again, my father who is 76 years old sitting in a hot tent, I just felt it was better to come back home. A single day event I feel would be the way to go next time.

Great to meet up with you guys and thanks to Wayne for the entertainment and big Pete for the conversation on politics, religion and ...

What posts Doug

Geoff

When I include the downloads secti0on of the site perhaps you may like to upload it there for everyone else to download - hopefully I will have the downloads section included next week

along came the cigar smoking ex WW11 fighter pilot fresh from his adventures on Independence Day where he miraculously survived flying his jet into the deep dark dungeons of the alien spacecraft that was churning out whales and bowls of petunias. What was he to do to yet again save the world...was he going to...

I will be bringing 2 Garmin 296's and 2 Garmin 96c's ;)

What are the details Wayne - what time should I get there to set up - is it only the Sat or Sun as well?

One thing that could possibly be causing it is that I am currently doing a lot of intensive work trying to get the photo gallery working. For example I had to move 50meg of pictures around on the server this morning which naturally uses a lot of server resource.

Hopefully in a few days most of the heavy development will be finished so it will be interesting if any problems still exist when the forums get back to just normal use

Also the interesting thing is this is the building of the data centre where our server is located - and it still works - I'm serious!

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/gas-blast-1000-evacuated/2008/02/04/1201973771925.html

and also check any links, favorites etc that you use has the www in front of recreationalflying.com

Oh, forgot to mention - I spoke to Palexxx today and we did some timings on loading the forums with:

1. no banner

2. static banner

3. scrolling banner

Now Palexxx is using Satellite so it was really slow but the results were:

Static banner 56secs

Scrolling banner 59secs

No banner was way over a minute first time and then 56secs the next time.

This means that the scrolling banner added about only 5% impact nevertheless I will not use the scrolling banner again but with AD/AN notices I will just put a bold Red static banner to let people know that a new AD/AN is out - hope this helps.

Iif anyone else wants to do a test then please let me know and I can do the changes while talking to you on the phone and timing the differences

I am getting a lot more time outs lately myself. They can be either:

your network card

your modem

your transmission line

your isp

the forum server

I thought that the only thing I had changed was the forum server so I started to get worried until the other day I spent some time away from the forums on other sites and I was getting just the same number of time outs. I sort of felt relieved that it probably isn't the forum server but something else. I know that about 1 and a half weeks ago there was massive damage done to some main cable I think to the US. Whether this is causing any re-routing of traffic that is causing some high loadings on the Telstra Backbone I am unsure.

I will be taking it up with the Data Centre anyway just in case

- hey, I am not the only moderator - there is a great team of Moderators working here at Recreational Flying - let's let them make the decision :big_grin:

Technical Support: Slartibartfast

Moderator from Qld: Turtle

Moderator from NSW: PaulN

Moderator from Vic: me

Moderator from SA: Ed Herring

Moderator from WA: Westcoast

We don't give these guys enough credit for what they do to help

Weird - however those in Sydney should get a faster speed as the server is located in a Data Centre there.

I think as the speed problem isn't global I can only assume that it is the quality of the user's ISP.

I have done a lot of things to speed it all up and it is blistering speed down here in Melb on Optus Cable however I will try and look deeper into it when I get the time

That's interesting - I have turned it off - that any better

Are you on dialup?

It doesn't sound right especially when you have so many database calls and the loading of images and many many lines of html code yet the scrolling banner only uses this very small amount of code:

Read about the new added feature to Recreational Flying and have some fun - THE GAMES ARCADE - 
Click here to find out more.

Also Tony if you want I can lock one or more of the Thruster sub forums to only those members that you wish to give viewing permissions to. I can also setup a facility of payment to view including TOSG membership subscriptions made through either PayPal or Credit Card - when subscription is paid they get access to one or more of the sub forums for the duration of their subscription.

These same facilities are available to all recreational flying aircraft groups, schools and clubs. For a school I can create a booking calendar here so students can make bookings and instructors can see their schedules any time day or night and where ever they may be at the time. Student payments and club fees can also be made by credit card through these forums.

There is so much available here to everyone - just ask!

Tony, if you want to make this place as the single point then just let me know what you would like to have.

I have a test site where I do all my development and testing - it is a complete duplicate of this "live" site so I can try different types of development. here is an example that I have just done to create separate sub forums just for TOSG and specific to Thruster - there can be as many as you need.

[ATTACH]5198.vB[/ATTACH]

Also, if anyone else wants to start a true dedicated support group for any kind of aircraft then also please let me know as this can also be done to help you.

Recreational Aviation Australia (RA-Aus) will be holding their annual NatFly event at Narromine N.S.W. over the Easter weekend.

Every year this huge event is home to over 700 recreational aircraft and pilots coming from all corners or Australia and even some from overseas.

The events begins with Instructor Forums for RA-Aus Instructors on the Thursday followed by open public forums on the Friday and Saturday. There are many aircraft on display and Aviation products available from the many trade stands spread around the airfield at Narromine.

Camping grounds with toilets and showers are available right next to the airfield as well as under wing camping.

Tony (and others)

These are my thoughts!

Several years ago the only available resource of interactive information on recreational flying was via the RA-Aus email list group - a type of forum that was text only only and you submitted a reply by email which was then emailed back out to everyone on the list - very cumbersome, limited and open to legal issues. It ended up being closed.

I thought we could do more for each other with forums like we have here where we could have pictures with posts to show detail plus so much more as we have here now. The Rec Flying forums were established and as I keep saying, purely with the focus of promoting safety in what we do by helping each other to fly safer, learn more about how to stay safe, help each other with hints to reduce costs in maintenance but in a way that maintenance quality also improves and that we as a community can show everyone else how professional we really can be in our flying activities.

Things have grown from those early beginnings to what the Rec Flying site is today and I truly believe that those initial objectives still stand true in what is being achieved here now. We do it without help or support from any organisation or body, we do it without politics or slandering each other - and even though I personally have created some enemies in trying to uphold those objectives (moderation, people using these forums for their own financial reward etc), we still do it with safety and professionalism in mind.

There are some people out there that have said that I am on some ego trip for world domination by trying to achieve the objective of this site being the only real place to go to for everything on flying recreational aircraft - how far from the truth that is. I can tell you as most of you would know that the hours and hours of work and the financial costs I have endured in giving you this site (for absolutely nothing in return) makes any thought of world domination a pure joke, an enormous loss and a completely failed business plan - yet I keep doing it because I already know that there are several of you still alive today simply because of the information that is contained within this site.

Others have started up forums and tried to poach people from here and tried all sorts of things to undermine these forums (and even me personally) but when you look at the intent and objectives of this site then it is easy to see that the others do not have the best interests of you and our industry at heart. I had one other forum owner wanting to copy posts from here and insert in his own forums - I said NO - this only fragments information around the internet which in itself may cause you serious problems in your flying with "half" information. We only have so much time available for us to spend on the internet and imagine if the person that bought an illegally modified Thruster didn't know that it was as they only had time to read another forum somewhere and it wasn't posted that it is illegally modified. They buy it and through some problem injure themselves. If world domination means that the person doesn't injure themselves then these forums have achieved what they set out to do right from day one!

As you may know I am continually fighting with the RA-Aus Board about these forums and it would be really great if they would recognise the huge benefits that they provide to the RA-Aus, every RA-Aus member and recreational flying in general but to date I haven't been able to achieve that. I will however, continue in my drive to have these forums supported by the RA-Aus Board BUT not at a price of safety and professionalism by succumbing to political demands. If placing a post in here saying that an advertisement in the RA-Aus magazine is for an illegally modified aircraft rocks the boat with any future relationship between these forums and the RA-Aus Board then so be it - not only you as a forum member but every RA-Aus member and recreational pilot will always come first in these types of situations. The thing is though - we are all in this together and thus should be united!

If creating/supporting another place for information distribution away from here is to protect these forums from political pressure then that should be completely ignored - I will fight anyone tooth and nail to protect the interests and safety of every single recreational pilot. If creating/supporting another place for information distribution away from here is due to features that are needed but not available here then let me know what they are and I will introduce them or if I can't then I will close this site now, advise everyone to go there, save a lot of money and time and sleep for 6 months.

In summary I firmly believe that to provide the greatest safety information, the greatest community, the greatest range of information on maintenance hints and help and the greatest possible avenue of peer pressure in promoting professionalism in our flying activities, should only be done from one site - wherever that site may be, and hang the expense and political ramifications.

Tony, you ARE "Mr Thruster" of this type of aircraft - the backbone of our industry - and I firmly believe that you have always and will continually do what is in the best interest of Thruster owners and pilots and I will support you in any way that I can.

My thoughts (on how to achieve world domination )